Norwegian biathlete Strula Holm Laegreid won his second bronze medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday — three days after making an unexpected personal confession during a post-race interview. Laegreid, who also won bronze in the 20-kilometer individual race on Tuesday, tearfully re vealed during a live broadcast that he had been unfaithful to his girlfriend and hoped to win her back. Putting those personal issues aside for Friday’s sprint race, Laegreid skied and shot his way onto another Olympic podium, finishing behind gold medalist Quentin Fillon Maillet of France and silver medalist Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Norway. “I tried to do biathlon and I just focus on the right thing at the right time,” Laegreid replied when asked how he has handled the fallout from his revelations. “Focus on the skiing and the course. Focus on the shooting in the range and it paid off.” var pymParent = new pym.Parent('olyLink735', 'https://visuals.otsops.com/projects/milan-links-generator/visual-link.html?link=https://www.nbcolympics.com/videos/botn-storms-gold-biathlon-mens-20km-individualtitle=Botn%20storms%20to%20gold%20in%20biathlon%20men%27s%2020km%20individualrand=735image=https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/post/short_form_video/2026/02/10/oly26_btmin_hlf_7355_medalrace_260210.jpg?impolicy=rect_medium_1024_576', {title: '', parenturlparam: '', parenturlvalue: ''}); Laegreid ended up 2.2 seconds behind Christiansen and 15.9 behind Fillon Maillet. “I never gave up and I was rewarded with the bronze,” the Norwegian said. Laegreid’s tearful confession on Tuesday after the 20-kilometer individual event was criticized by some who said it took the focus away from teammate Johan-Olav Botn, who won the gold medal in that race. “I deeply regret sharing this personal story on what was a day of celebration for Norwegian biathlon,” Laegreid said in a statement issued by the Norwegian team on Wednesday. None of the top five finishers missed a target, making it a ski race that came down to seconds. Fifth-place finisher Sabastian Samuelsson of Sweden was only 25 seconds behind Fillon Maillet. Botn missed one shot and was eighth. The U.S. had high hopes that Campbell Wright would secure the country’s first Olympic medal in biathlon, but one missed target set him back and he finished in 12th place, 1:10 behind the winner. Wright, a rising star and dual citizen from New Zealand, was favored after winning silver medals in the sprint and pursuit at last year’s world championships. Wright finished 27th in Tuesday’s race. “The individual was a bit brutal with the cards we were dealt. I don’t think we had the best skis,” Wright said. “But today our skis were more competitive and me not being on the podium was my own fault. So that’s a better feeling.” ...read more read less